16,000 Nurses can't be wrong!

Specialties Informatics

Published

Specializes in Informatics, Education, and Oncology.

Per a recently published study (that included 16,000 nurses) in the Journal of Nursing Administration: nurses working in hospitals with EHR (Electornic Health Records) were more likely to report less unfavorable pt safety occurances, medication errors and improved quality of care indicators.

Nurses working with EHR consistently reported improvements in pt outcomes and nursing care per the study authors Ann Kutney-Lee and Deena Kelly.

See attached article

The_Effect_of_Hospital_Electronic_Health_Record.7.pdf

The EHR in my opinion does help in many cases to clarify the care plan and the care. However, I still crave better documentation from nurses as well as other providers. Even with the EHR, frequently nursing documentation will lack sophistication. In fact, I still hear physicians and others, including nurses in administrative roles, make comments that nursing notes do not count because the information nurses typically provide is meaningless. Nursing notes do count when they save the neck of a physician and the institutions and communicate that evidence-based services were performed. Somehow, all nurses need to receive regular instructions and reinforcement on quality documentation and why it is important to produce it.

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